CLS is seeking input to help determine the content of the Age 50 Sweep of the 1970 British Cohort Study, scheduled to commence in 2020. We are asking anyone who is interested – include academics, policy makers and representatives of the third sector – to put forward their suggestions for content and questions by Friday 11 January 2019.

Aimed at government policy-makers, practitioners, and academic researchers, this one day event will showcase our latest longitudinal evidence as well as highlight what these findings mean for public policy today.

Choosing the right field of study is more important than attending an elite university for those aiming to become top earners by middle age, according to new findings from the UCL Institute of Education.

Does the language of 11-year-olds provide clues to their economic status, physical activity, health, and cognitive function in later life? Researchers have been using machine learning tools to analyse essays written in 1969 by children taking part in the 1958 National Child Development Study.

In 1969, more than 10,000 11-year-olds, taking part in the National Child Development Study, were asked to write an essay imagining what their lives would be like at 25. Fast forward 50 years and we have contacted a number of the study members to share their essay with them and to see how their lives have unfolded.

In this blog, Alissa Goodman, Director of CLS, responds to the ESRC's Longitudinal Studies Strategic Review.

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies is home to four national longitudinal cohort studies, which follow tens of thousands of people from birth and across the whole of their lives.

For the past 60 years, findings from our studies have played a part in shaping the world we live in today, providing evidence for many of the choices we face as individuals, and as a society, and informing many areas of government policy. Today, our studies are casting light on some of the biggest challenges we face. Obesity, mental health, and poverty are just some of the issues our studies are helping to tackle.

Our research

The research we do at CLS covers issues that affect all our lives: education and learning, social mobility, health and wellbeing, families and family life, and ageing. We look for answers to questions and provide evidence to help tackle some of the key challenges we face in our society today.